Speeches by Dewhirst.

“If something is already illegal, we do not regulate it. Does the hon. Member agree?”

“If the Government are so confident in the Prime Minister’s decision to sack Sir Olly Robbins, will the Minister today rule out settling any employment tribunal in advance of a hearing or imposing any gagging orders on Mr Robbins?”

“Absolutely; I could not agree more with my right hon. Friend. We have seen that trend not just in gambling but in tobacco. Taxation levels have become so high that they have created an enormous black market, which I believe has led to the Treasury losing about £6 billion in revenue. Any sector that is over-taxed or ove…”

“The hon. Member has made a number of points on that subject. I will make some progress as I am sure that you, Mrs Harris, are keen for me to wrap up this contribution as soon as I can.”

“I would like to make a little bit of progress rather than just go back and forth with a Q&A. We must recognise that betting and gaming is an entirely legitimate commercial practice for responsible gambling firms, as is advertising and sponsorship, but there are already alarming signs that businesses are facing diff…”

“My right hon. Friend makes an excellent point. The gambling black market is extraordinarily large globally; it is hugely significant. As I mentioned earlier, there are specific challenges elsewhere in the world where gambling is not allowed at all, but we all know that gambling exists in those countries at very signifi…”

“Over the decades, Formula 1 has always been a great British success story. The banning of tobacco ads in such a global sport was not necessarily such a problem, because its reach and ability to bring in advertising revenue from other industries was more than it was for, say, snooker or darts. The ban almost destroyed s…”

“Like colleagues from across the House, I have constituents—veterans and former public servants—who have been treated appallingly by Capita, and who have been unable to access the money that they paid in. The Minister previously promised a standardised mitigation letter that those individuals could take to lenders, so t…”

“Certainly anecdotally, the pig sector is going through a downturn at the moment, obviously due to the European market being flooded with Spanish pork because it has ASF in a certain region, and so on. I have heard of practices reminiscent of 2021, 2022 reoccurring, where processors renege on contracts at short notice, …”

“Those regulations have come in in the last couple of years; it is all new. When I was working on the pig side of it through the drafting exercise there was certainly a concern that we were not going to get everything right, and that once it came into force there would potentially need to be some adaptation just to refl…”

“As we all know, there were some issues with the pre-existing arrangements in many cases, which is why you are here in front of us today. In terms of your resourcing, is your team in place and up to speed now? What does your team look like in terms of its structure?”

“I feel like I could be sat on either side today, given my role in the campaign to create the GCA and then my role in the pig supply chain regulations. I am going back to one of the biggest errors in terms of the way in which your body was created, Mr White, in the fact that it did not perhaps properly recognise the sup…”

“Without wishing to do Richard out of the job before he has even really started, could you not have brought all those powers under one body that would have made more sense, in terms of what you could both do together?”

“Just on the specifics, I am sure you have read Minette Batters’ recent review, particularly her recommendations around the cost price increases, and those being enshrined in some statutory way. How did you reflect on that?”

“Is there a concern that you simply should not be forcing producers into such a rigid contractual relationship? It is not up to them to negotiate that with whomever they are supplying, whether a processor or retailer.”

“Just on the specifics, I am sure you have read Minette Batters’ recent review, particularly her recommendations around the cost price increases, and those being enshrined in some statutory way. How did you reflect on that?”

“I feel like I could be sat on either side today, given my role in the campaign to create the GCA and then my role in the pig supply chain regulations. I am going back to one of the biggest errors in terms of the way in which your body was created, Mr White, in the fact that it did not perhaps properly recognise the sup…”

“Without wishing to do Richard out of the job before he has even really started, could you not have brought all those powers under one body that would have made more sense, in terms of what you could both do together?”

“Richard, what would your view be on that? You are obviously going to be closer to some of that contractual framework going forward in terms of dairy and pigs and other sectors as they come online.”

“Is there a concern that you simply should not be forcing producers into such a rigid contractual relationship? It is not up to them to negotiate that with whomever they are supplying, whether a processor or retailer.”